For Sale: Sapphire/Ruby Pathé DD Styli - $40

[donniej]

This is a post to gauge interest, these parts are not yet ready but if there's sufficient interest then I'll order the gemstones. These are sapphire or ruby (not red glass) ground styli fitted into a stainless steel shank, for use in Pathé, Cheney or lateral machine with a 90* adapter. The video below shows my first attempt with an aluminum shank, which was too soft and quiet, stainless steel has tested well and I'll soon also be trying brass.

https://youtu.be/cBGX1tpC2Xg

I'd also consider mounting these styli on the cantilever for a modern electric turntable, for the same price.

Interest or feedback is appreciated.

Thank you.

[52089]

Have you done wear tests, both on discs and on records?

Any plans to make a similar Pathé stylus?

[Inigo]

Great achievement! Congrats!
Did you file it by hand, or using a lathe?
Since early on the hobby (1978) I use to file by hand the modern microgroove styli to flatten or truncate the point until I get the width needed for a clear audition of 78s. I use a fine diamond/sapphir (?) powder nail file, and usually get good results. I've been doing this for forty years now! Lately I've refined my technique, and I grind the point more on the front and back, and not at the sides, using a rotating movement, trying to get an elliptical point. This sounds terribly good, but it's not that, for I do this to the naked eye and proceed in small steps by trial and error, using an old record to test the sound. I go on until I start to listen the clearness of reproduction, when the stylus is wide enough to fill the groove. It's not that difficult, for the sound produced when the stylus is skidding at the bottom of the groove is very characteristic, kind of hiss mixed with a fuzzy music sound. Eventually during the process, the stylus starts to rest on the groove walls, and you hear a very different sound, and everything sounds clear, not fuzzy.
I cannot commercialise on this, for I cannot guarantee a perfect point, though. I know my styli can do harm on the grooves if any hard peak or ridge has been left on the stylus surface... I use the stylus several hours on old 78s, 2nd copies and the like, until I feel more comfortable and then use it to play the good 78s. I've not noticed any groove greying with this system. But in the past I got some styli that produced noticeable groove greying after a few plays...